Act III, scene ii

Summary

Back at Prospero’s cell, Ferdinand takes over Caliban’s
duties and carries wood for Prospero. Unlike Caliban, however, Ferdinand
has no desire to curse. Instead, he enjoys his labors because they
serve the woman he loves, Miranda. As Ferdinand works and thinks
of Miranda, she enters, and after her, unseen by either lover, Prospero enters.
Miranda tells Ferdinand to take a break from his work, or to let
her work for him, thinking that her father is away. Ferdinand refuses
to let her work for him but does rest from his work and asks Miranda
her name. She tells him, and he is pleased: “Miranda” comes from
the same Latin word that gives English the word “admiration.” Ferdinand’s
speech plays on the etymology: “Admired Miranda! / Indeed the top
of admiration, worth / What’s dearest to the world!” (III.i.37–39).

Ferdinand goes on to flatter his beloved. Miranda is,
of course, modest, pointing out that she has no idea of any woman’s
face but her own. She goes on to praise Ferdinand’s face, but then
stops herself, remembering her father’s instructions that she should
not speak to Ferdinand. Ferdinand assures Miranda that he is a prince
and probably a king now, though he prays his father is not dead. Miranda
seems unconcerned with Ferdinand’s title, and asks only if he loves
her. Ferdinand replies enthusiastically that he does, and his response
emboldens Miranda to propose marriage. Ferdinand accepts and the
two part. Prospero comes forth, subdued in his happiness, for he
has known that this would happen. He then hastens to his book of
magic in order to prepare for remaining business.

Analysis

There be some sports are painful, and
their labour
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead
And makes my labours pleasures.

This scene revolves around different images of servitude.
Ferdinand is literally in service to Prospero, but in order to make
his labor more pleasant he sees Miranda as his taskmaster. When
he talks to Miranda, Ferdinand brings up a different kind of servitude—the love
he has felt for a number of other beautiful women. Ferdinand sees
this love, in comparison to his love for Miranda, as an enforced servitude:
“Full many a lady / I have eyed with the best regard, and many a
time / Th’ harmony of their tongues hath into bondage / Brought
my too diligent ear” (III.i.39–42).
When Miranda stops the conversation momentarily, remembering her
father’s command against talking to Ferdinand, the prince hastens
to assure her that he is worthy of her love. He is royalty, he says,
and in normal life “would no more endure / This wooden slavery [carrying
logs] than to suffer / The flesh-fly blow my mouth” (III.i.61–63).
But this slavery is made tolerable by a different kind of slavery:
“The very instant that I saw you did / My heart fly to your service;
there resides, / To make me slave to it” (III.i.64–66).
The words “slavery” and “slave” underscore the parallel as well
as the difference between Ferdinand and Caliban. Prospero repeatedly
calls Caliban a slave, and we see Caliban as a slave both to Prospero
and to his own anger. Ferdinand, on the other hand, is a willing
slave to his love, happy in a servitude that makes him rejoice rather
than curse.

At the end of the scene, Miranda takes up the theme of
servitude. Proposing marriage to Ferdinand, she says that “I am
your wife, if you will marry me; / If not, I’ll die your maid. .
. . / You may deny me; but I’ll be your servant / Whether you will
or no” (III.i.83–86).
This is the only scene of actual interaction we see between Ferdinand
and Miranda. Miranda is, as we know, and as she says, very innocent:
“I do not know / One of my sex, no woman’s face remember / Save from
my glass mine own; nor have I seen / More that I may call men than
you, good friend, / And my dear father” (III.i.48–52).
The play has to make an effort to overcome the implausibility of
this courtship—to make Miranda look like something more than Prospero’s puppet
and a fool for the first man she sees. Shakespeare accomplishes
this by showing Ferdinand in one kind of servitude—in which he must
literally and physically humble himself—as he talks earnestly about
another kind of servitude, in which he gives himself wholly to Miranda.
The fact that Miranda speaks of a similar servitude of her own accord,
that she remembers her father’s “precepts” and then disregards them,
and that Prospero remains in the background without interfering
helps the audience to trust this meeting between the lovers more
than their first meeting in Act I, scene ii.

Of course, Prospero’s presence in the first place may
suggest that he is somehow in control of what Miranda does or says.
At the end he steps forward to assure the audience that he knew
what would happen: “So glad of this as they I cannot be, / Who are
surprised with all” (III.i.93–94).
But Prospero’s five other lines (III.i.31–32 and
III.i.74–76) do not
suggest that he controls what Miranda says. Rather, he watches in
the manner of a father—both proud of his daughter’s choice and slightly
sad to see her grow up.

Gonzalo also mentions that he thinks that the Boatswain is the type of person who looks like he would die by a hanging and not by drowning.He could be suggesting that the boat would not capsize,because otherwise the boatswain would die.

"My Lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time to speak it in.You rub the sore
When you should bring the plaster"

In these words,Gonzalo is criticizing what Sebastian has told Alonso.In these lines,Alonso's heart is the sore,made by the loss of his son.Gonzalo says that Sebastian is "rubbing the sore" meaning that Sebastian isn't helping Alonso overcome his loss.The "plaster" is the kind,compassionate and encouraging words spoken by Gonzalo and time needed to mend Alonso's bleeding heart.... Read more→

The minor character's story runs parallel to the main plot.The minor characters are used by Shakespeare to create humour and lighten the seriousness of the main plot.While Antonio and Sebastian were very serious and sober in plotting Alonso's and Gonzalo's death.The minor characters plan to kill Prospero when they are drunk.